Woman afraid for her baby’s life after pharmacy accidentally gives abortion pill

DENVER, Colorado, February 8, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A Denver woman is afraid for her baby’s life after a pharmacy accidentally gave her a pill used to kill unborn children instead of her prescribed medicine.

Local ABC affiliate 7NEWS reported Monday that Mareena Silva, six weeks pregnant, began feeling nauseous after taking what she thought was her antibiotic. “I came back and I looked at the bottle and it wasn’t my name,” said Silva. The drug was methotrexate, which is used both to treat cancer and to cause abortions in the first trimester.

“For all this to happen now is really overwhelming,” said the mother. “This is my first child, so it’s really difficult to deal with.” The Safeway pharmacy admitted to mixing up Silva’s name with the similar name of a 59-year-old woman.

Safeway told the news service that an investigation was underway and that the supermarket chain has “extended our sincere apologies to the customer, and offered to pay any medical expenses incurred as a result of a prescription error.”

“When the pharmacist became aware of what happened, he worked with the patient and with her physicians to minimize any possible health consequences to the patient and her unborn child,” Safeway stated.

Silva was rushed to a nearby medical center where she was given charcoal in an attempt to absorb the deadly drug, which may kill or seriously harm the baby.